Bill Seeks Details Of Pending Budget Cut

The House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 5872) last week by a vote of 414-2 that would require the Obama Administration to provide within 30 days a report on how it plans to implement the $109 billion in automatic across-the-board cuts to the 2013 federal discretionary budget required under the debt-limit law. The Administration has reportedly not started such planning even though the cuts, known as sequestration, are set to take effect on Jan. 2, 2013. Members of both parties in Congress have said they want to avoid these cuts, but no agreement on alternative spending cuts has yet been reached. The bill goes to the Senate, which passed a similar message in the form of an amendment to an unrelated bill last month.